Leiqin

The Leiqin (Ch: leiqin, translated literally, " thundering instrument " or Leihu ) is a Chinese stringed instrument that is played with a bow.

History

The Leiqin was developed in the 1920s by the Chinese People's Artist Wang Dianyu based on the Zhuihu. Since 1953 the official name of the instrument Leiqin.

Construction of the instrument

The metal sound body (corpus ) is covered with snake skin. A small bridge located over the two strings of the instrument are led to the fretless fingerboard at the upper end. There are two different major types of Leiqin: The larger one is 110 cm long and covered with two steel strings, the lesser of 90 cm length silk strings.

Play and sound

The player holds the Leiqin vertically or almost vertically against his thigh during a hand leads the bow and pushes the other the strings against the fingerboard. The sound of the instrument that is played both solo and in a band, has a large range. The Laiqin can be played very loud and has these two properties a large, varied expression. Virtuoso of the instrument, such as Zhang Yongzhi can imitate animal sounds such as animal howl or Vogelzwitschen that mimic human speech and even singing Chinese opera and various other instruments.